


Murphy Day

by theSilentium



Series: The Bad Batch and their Bad Luck [1]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ark: survival species, F/M, Original Character(s), Original planet, Superstition, weird shit is going on here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:13:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29385393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theSilentium/pseuds/theSilentium
Summary: The Bad Batch lands on the planet Fors on the infamous Murphy day. Fortunately for them, you are there to help them survive the day. Unfortunately for you, the day had just started.
Relationships: Clone Force 99 | Bad Batch/Reader, Hunter (Star Wars: The Bad Batch)/Reader
Series: The Bad Batch and their Bad Luck [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2158683
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	1. Wrong Day to be Out

Right now, you didn’t know why you ever thought that getting out today was a bad idea. Sure, it was kinda against the rules and there was a long list of reasons as to _why_ it was against the rules, but seeing the two armored clones dangling upside down meters above the ground, their limbs entangled in the thick lianas, their whines reaching your ears, you quickly forgot all the consequences that were waiting for you if you got caught. This was worth any forced work and fine thrown at you.

You stood there, a hand over your mouth to keep yourself from exploding into a fit of laughter, hidden on a large tree branch above the two soldiers. You listened to them insulting the foliage and thrashing around like it would change something. Clearly, they’ve never come to your planet before, or else they would know that the more they moved the lianas would squeeze them tighter into their grips. 

Despite your amusement at their expense, you kept an eye out for any predator lurking around. It would definitely darken your day if they were to be attacked. But then again, Murphy day spared no one. Your hand wrapped around your hunting knife, its carved wooden handle reassuring you that you weren’t defenseless and that luck was on your side. 

You ducked under an enormous leaf when you registered a movement in the corner of your eye, but not before making sure that it wasn’t a loth wolf or something more unfriendly. It definitely wasn’t a loth wolf, but you weren’t sure if they were friendly. One of the two new clones was way too big for your liking and the custom paint of his helmet didn’t put you in confidence, as opposed to the one with the glasses.

“Sorry for the wait Sarge!” A booming voice almost made you jump and lose your balance on the branch. “We got lost for a bit there!” 

“At least you made it. Now get us out of here. Being upside down is giving me a headache and I can’t concentrate.” The trooper with the half black, half white helmet answered, wriggling around to try and see the newcomers. “Those things can’t be cut.” 

You smiled to yourself, the voice of your dad echoing in your mind. _A sharp knife will not always help you. But a sharp mind will._ And so, you chuckled silently to yourself, before sitting on the branch, your back to the trunk and head tilting to the side so you could keep sight on the bunch of soldiers. 

One of them walked forward while typing on something on his wrist rapidly, the bigger one following suit. 

“Tech, how do we get them down?” 

“ _Genlisea filiformis_ is a carnivorous plant-”

“A what?!” The second one that dropped the sniper rifle earlier yelled. You rolled your eyes at his panic. 

“A carnivorous plant, Crosshair. Now stop moving. The lianas will continue tightening every time you move.” His head moved slightly from side to side, seemingly reading. “Oh, this is interesting. They eat their prey by dissolving the flesh with an acid oozing from the lianas. Now, you guys should be okay with your composite armor. Don’t worry.” 

You snorted, a bit too loudly. Your hands flew to your mouth, whilst the rest of your body froze in fear that someone heard. Against all odds, you were still off the radar, your sound escaping them completely under Sarge’s grunts of pain and the insults of the slim guy who you assumed was Crosshair. 

“All we have to do is to find the head of the plant. The weak point of the lianas is at the base of the head, where the lianas start.” 

As he finished his sentence, you pushed the leaf covering you aside so you could be at the front row of their realization. This was going to be gold.

“Hear that Sarge? We just need t-” His voice stopped as soon as he tried to take a step forward, his feet stuck under 15 cm of the stickiest artificial resin found on this planet. 

Just to make it better, his companion spotted the head of the plant and with all his determination behind his step, he tried to lift his foot, only to lose balance when it didn’t move an inch and fell on his hands in the resin. 

That’s when your laughter erupted, loud enough to cover the whines of the smallest soldier, bouncing between the trees and stopping each Bad Batcher’s heart in surprise. Tears quickly gathered in your eyes, almost making you fall off your safe spot when you lifted your hand to wipe away the droplets. 

“You! Get down here!” Sarge barked, causing you to chuckle as your laughter died down. 

“Are your panties in a twist, Sarge? Did one of the lianas get in there?” You sassed, putting your knife back in the side pocket of your boot and carefully jumping down your branch to another one below. 

You made your way towards them, moving from tree to tree, avoiding any liana that was courageous enough to grow that far away from its roots and stopped just where the branches ended and the mess of lianas started. 

“Hey there!” You smirked, waving innocently at the upside down trooper two meters away from you. 

“Get us down.” Growled Crosshair. 

“Oh sure. I love helping people who are as abrasive as sandpaper.” You tilted your head to the side, putting on your best innocent expression. 

Once again, he trashed around, surely trying to get a hand free so he could grab… something? You were too far off his reach so he couldn’t possibly want to grab you. Maybe a blaster? Unfortunately for him, you saw them fall on the ground earlier. 

“Listen. I-” His grunt of pain made you frown in concern. Your father always told you that you were way too empathetic for this big bad world. “We need help. Please.” He sounded out of breath and it was more than you needed to get working. 

With a nod, you walked the length of your perch, jumped in another tree, climbed down to the jungle floor and avoided every puddle of resin the kids of the village had dropped around to prank passers by. 

“She’s good.” The booming voice surprised you again. 

“She’s native and knows what she’s doing.” You said, putting on your gloves and reaching for your knife. “Ready?”

The two suspended clones grunted in approval. 

You made sure they wouldn’t fall head first in the resin and with a few quick motions, you slashed the head off the rest of its body, sticky pale green juices oozed from the cuts and created a small film of smoke where it touched the blade. 

Two yelps reached your ears, but you couldn’t care much, instead you jumped to the nearest patch of grass where you removed most of the acid from the smoking blade. 

“Are you alright?” At the question, you turned to assess if one of them broke their neck in the fall. For once, luck seemed to be on their side as they were both seating on their ass, helmets off massaging their heads where you were sure they could feel their heartbeat. 

“’m fine Tech.” Sarge answered. He looked worse than his sniper friend, who glared at you when he felt your eyes on him. 

“You trapped us.” He accused, getting on his feet to make his way towards you. 

"What? No!“ Jumping backward to avoid his hand, you tumbled to the ground but quickly rolled over to get back on your two feet. "Don’t touch me!” You yelled, still avoiding his attempts at grabbing you. You didn’t want to threaten him with a knife because you were sure to lose and he would touch you, but your mind did think about it. 

“Crosshair.” Sarge barked, calling back his sandpaper soldier. 

If possible, the grey haired clone’s glare intensified, burning a hole into your head, freezing you in place. Damn was he scary. You almost regretted cutting the lianas. 

“Won’t hurt you.” He muttered, still glaring. 

“Says you.” You circled around him so you could go back to the rest of the clones, more importantly closer to Sarge who seemed more reasonable. You positionned yourself behind him, you know, just to be sure. 

“Can you get them out too?” Sarge asked you over his shoulder, giving you a perfect view of his tattoo. You were impressed. Never did you think that a facial tattoo could look so good on someone. Seemed like you were wrong. So so very wrong. 

You nodded. “On one condition." 

Frowning, he turned around to face you completely. 

"What?" 

_I wanna touch your tattoo._

"No one touches me.” His eyebrow shot up in an inquisitive manner and oh damn you wanted to touch the dark ink. 

“We won’t hurt you.” He reiterated Crosshair’s words. You shook your head. 

“Not like that. I don’t want your bad luck on me. Because clearly, you guys” You gestured around them with your both hands. “emanate bad luck.” Your hands fall to your side. “The baddest bad luck I’ve seen in my life." 

"We don’t have bad luck! We are lucky! We have a 100% success rate!” Bigger guy in the resin barked before laughing. 

“100% success rate eh? That’s bad luck.” You took a step back for your sake. Too much success always bite you in the arse one day. Looked like their elastic broke today. Lucky them. 

“You know that superstitions are not true, right? It’s irrational.” Smaller dude who removed his gloves to stand told you. Tech, if you heard right.

Wait. What? 

“Do you guys know what planet you’re on?” You were baffled by the lack of knowledge they had on your planet. For sure, you would have thought that they would get as much information on a planet before getting there and running around? 

“Fors. A jungle planet of the Outer Rim. Rich in resources but not exploited because of the thick and dangerous flora." 

You nodded. "So you should know that here, what you all call superstitions are the real deal, right?” Your eyes found Sarge’s brown one and you sigh at the lack of recognition. “Ok. If I were you, I’d get away from Fors real’ quickly. You’re all wearing black which represents death and your perfect success rate very probably attracted the curse of evil eye on y'all. Plus, we are today." 

You walked to a nearby tree, crouched to search the ground around its roots for a particular cavity. 

"What’s wrong with today?” Sarge finally got on his feet, fetching his fallen blaster in a bush. 

“Today’s Murphy day. The 13th day of the month. Usually there’s a good balance between luck and bad luck. But today, it’s only bad luck. Laws forbid anyone on the planet to get out of their home for the whole day to prevent accidents and other stuff." 

After your third tree, you found the hole you were looking for. Without a thought, you stuck your hand in the hole, searching around for the container the kids always leave near the traps. 

"So you’re breaking the law.” Crosshair pointed out, to your exasperation. 

“Exactly. But I don’t intend to get caught so I should be fine.” You huffed. “Thank you.”

“You don’t seem affected by bad luck.” Tech quirked. 

“Knock on wood!” You said while knocking the trunk of the tree you were searching. 

Your hand found the bottle and pulled it out with a victory cry, the dark blue liquid shining in the sun like the night sky illuminated by its stars. You grinned, shaking the bottle. 

“Now, do we have a deal? Keep your hands to yourselves and I free the two remaining dudes from the kids’ trap." 

With his hands slightly in the hair, Sarge nodded. "We won’t touch you. Go ahead.”

“Okay! Let’s do this.” Taking a deep breath, you opened the lid and dropped half the bottle at the big one’s feet, the other half on Tech’s. 

The resin started dissolving on itself at the liquid’s contact, freeing the troopers in under a minute. You backed off so they had room to join the rest of their squad. At a good distance, you allowed yourself to breathe again. 

“Thanks miss! I’m Wrecker.” The biggest guy lifted his helmet a bit so he could wear it as a hat, a smile almost splitting his face in half. You immediately noted the scar on the side of his face as well as the cybernetic eye, but something inside your mind told you he wasn’t as bad as you initially thought. He seemed too childish to be bad. 

“Nice to meet you Wrecker. The name’s Y/N.” You waved with a smile of your own. 

“I’m Tech.” He removed his helmet, a smile of his own curving his lips. The name definitely suited him to a T. You waved back.

"Sarge and Crosshair, right?“ You asked, pointing to the remaining ones. 

"Sergent Hunter.” He corrected as the other merely grunted in response. “Thank you for helping us.” It wasn’t a complete smile, but the corners of his lips perked up so you’ll take it. 

“You’re all very much welcome. I hope you all get back safely to your ship!” You put back your knife in its pocket and turned around to climb back into the tree next to you. You jumped to the closest thick branch, used your strong arms to pull you up on it and stand without much of a problem. You climbed a bit more until you found a branch big enough to walk its length. 

“Have a nice Murphy day and good lu-” The words died in your throat, instead morphing into a surprised yelp when your foot didn’t quite go where you wanted it to and caught in a tiny branch that totally refused to break, interfering with your balance. Your hands flew to your face to protect yourself from the smaller branches and leaves scratching at your skin, a quick peek informed you that the ground was coming way too quickly for your liking, your eyes closed in anticipation of the inevitable face plant impact. 

The pain wasn’t quite as you imagined, instead of hurting your front, hands, face and very possibly your spine, strong arms caught you in the air, the abrupt stop causing you to hit your chin onto a hard piece of armor, clattering your teeth together in the process. Thank the Maker, you didn’t bite your tongue off.

Confused, hurt and out of breath, you tried to comprehend what happened by looking around at the best of your capacity, being trapped between two arms as large as trunks. Concerned mismatched eyes met yours, seconds before the ground finally touched your feet delicately. Your eyes went wide as soon as your brain finally registered what happened and who cushioned your fall, panic making you push the large chest away from you so suddenly that you fell on your behind in a patch of tall grass. Wrecker tried to catch you in your fall again, missing your arm from an inch. 

“You okay?” He retracted his arms and stood tall again, Tech and Hunter approaching behind him, concern written all over their faces. 

“Yeah”. You sighed, letting your head roll backwards. Shooking your head, you watched the treetops, all the leaves and mazes of branches, the rare brave birds still watching you from above. Maybe they had the answer as to how you could survive this day. “Thanks for catching me Wrecker.” One of your hands massaged your aching chin.

“No problem Y/N!” His smile came back as soon as he was certain that you were fine, although it was short lived because you soon let yourself fall onto your back in defeat.

“This day starts so badly.” You muttered. You remember leaving your home at 6, early enough that a very few people were awake, but late enough so you could use the first rays of the sun to guide yourself. “I should’ve stayed home.” You snorted. “I’ll probably die from something very stupid.” 

“Well, if you hadn’t come out today, we would still be trapped, so the least we could do is help you survive the day. How does that sound?” Hunter’s gravelly voice almost made you shiver. 

You shot back up, immediately extending a hand toward the Sergeant from your seated position. “Very fair. Deal.” 

With a nod, he grabbed your hand and pulled you up to your feet. Maybe he was used to pulling up his brothers or he simply miscalculated, but the amount of force behind his pull was unnecessary, propelling you right into his armored chest where you hit your face. 

You yelped in pain, hands reaching for your nose in a hurry. No blood. No broken bone. You sighed in relief.

“Sorry for that.” He seemed so confused it was almost hilarious. You definitely would have laughed if only your nose wasn’t ready to explode.

“It’s fine. ‘s not your fault. It’s today! You lose control of yourself a little and end up creating accidents all around you.” With a last check up that your nose wasn’t bleeding, you took a step aside to create a bit of space between you and the rest of them. “So, where’s your ship?” 

“Latitude 45.400972. Longitude -75.79851.” Tech answered while typing on the screen on his wrist. 

You were deeply confused despite having completed all mandatory classes in your village school. He was speaking a whole different language, you were sure of it. Did clones have a language? They were the first ones you ever encountered, not a lot of people liked to venture out into the Outer Rim where the planets weren’t very significant to anyone. Now that you thought about it, you’d love to see a battle on Murphy day. You were sure it would be catastrophingly funny to watch. Minus the fact that people would really die. Okay. Not so fun after all. 

“About an hour of walk this way.” Tech clarified, his eyes scanning your too deeply thinking face. 

“Okay!” You turned in the direction he pointed and started walking, jumping over the resin puddles. “You made it this far, I’m sure we can all make it back there without dying on the way!” You said, crossing your fingers. 

“Stop talking.” Crosshair growled beneath his helmet. 

_Duly noted._ At the rhythm the day was going, you knew he’d regret his comment at some point. All you had to do was wait. So with the fakest smile you’ve ever had to use on your face, you turned around quickly and mimed to zip your lips before turning back around to watch your steps. 

Maybe it was a bad idea to follow them. You didn’t know them until 10 minutes ago, they were four trained soldiers with blasters and military training, three seemed friendly enough and the last one was as cuddly as a porcupine. On your end, all you had to rely on was your excellent knowledge of the environment, your hunting knife and your precious tap. 

You tapped your pants pocket to ensure that it was still in your possession when quick steps alerted you of a clone keeping you company. 

“Don’t listen to him. I’d love to know why luck has that much importance on this planet.” Tech joined you at the front, helmet back on his head. “If you don’t mind.” He added when he met your questioning gaze. 

“People really don’t know much about us, do they?”

You didn’t blame them though. Who would want to venture on a planet where you didn’t have the power over yourself, but something as volatile as luck did? 

“I’m afraid there aren’t much more information on Fors other than datas about the minerals that can be found in underground caves.”

“I’m not surprised.” You scoffed. Your planet was extremely rich in precious minerals that the republic and the separatists would love to have to help found their war expenses, if it wasn’t of the dangers passing as defenceless flora, adorable killing creatures and bewitching deadly smells. 

“Okay. Where to start…” You taped your chin, disentangling the different events and remembering your history classes. “You see, Fors is alive, like any other planet, but the difference is that it feeds on beliefs. It eh… apparently it’s a field cast a very long time ago that enveloppe the planet and would cause all the luck, bad luck stuff.”

Your hand shot up to push back against Tech’s chest just as he was about to step in a prank trap, falling in with him anyway when he tripped on his own feet. With a yelp, your other hand flew out, wrapping tightly around the first thing available, meaning nothing. 

Fortunately for you, Tech fell first into the phosphorescent mixture, saving your front from a disastrous quantity of disgusting liquids to come in contact with your body. You got away with only your pants in the mixture, so all in all, this was a good outcome. Although, with a silent gag, you hurriedly pushed yourself off the completely covered clone, away from the nasty smell and the oily prank. 

“What is in that? And why is there so many traps here!?” Tech yelped indignantly once he was on his feet, removing the most of the pale yellow thing out of his glasses. 

“Believe me, you really don’t want to know what’s in there. And for your second question, the kids love to trap strangers!” You pulled on a big leaf behind Hunter who dodged out of your way so you could remove a layer of the substance from your pants. 

“What’s in that?” Whispered Hunter once he moved to your side, slightly bending to be closer to your ear. Wrecker’s roaring laugh drowning his smaller brother’s curses. 

“Phosphorescent bird poo mixed with loth wolf puke.” You snickered. Poor Tech. It would have been much more hilarious would it have been the glaring tooth prick who fell in the trap. On the bright side, predators should stay away from your little group now. 

“R.I.P.” You finally exploded in laughter. 

This was going to be the best yet the worst day of your life!


	2. Bear with Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I put some ARK:Survival evolved creatures in this. They are just so cute! Plus, I made a ton of stuff up.

“So you guys are Commandos?” You asked as Hunter moved aside the colorful plant blocking your way, his steps following yours closely. 

For the last 10 minutes, you’ve managed to make good progress in your quest to reach the clones’ ship. So deep into the jungle, the prank traps were nonexistent, making it easier for the group to venture without a hitch although it also meant that you were out of the village’s defence system. 

Wrecker had been chattering with you for the most part, explaining that they weren’t regular clones when you pointed out that referring to them as ‘clones’ was basically going against the definition of the word as they all looked completely different from one another. 

Unbeknownst to you, a certain bad batcher started to think that you may not be as annoying as he initially thought, your comment about the fact that their mutations made them the best version of their kind was running through his mind. 

_The jungle is in constant evolution! Only the bests survive and to do that, they need to mutate! It’s the same with you guys. Your mutations make you even more adapted to survive and do your job. That’s impressive._

“We are!” You could tell Wrecker was immensely proud of being an elite special team, his enthusiasm made his voice even louder. 

You’d hoped that Wrecker’s voice mixed with Tech’s repulsive odor would keep the nasty fangs away. Unfortunately, bad luck decided to show its face again.

A branch snapped behind you catching your attention, prompting you to stop dead in your tracks and turn around at the same moment Hunter did. He didn’t even have to lift his hand, his troop immediately turned like one man while lifting their blasters towards the moving and cracking flora, their feet firmly planted on the ground, ready to engage whatever there was lurking around. 

The animal was clearly making its way into your direction, its form moved the plants around to form a clear path towards your group. 

The utter silence was nerve wracking. The birds had stopped chirping a while back, when Wrecker had exploded in laughter at one of your joke, the jerboas were definitely keeping themselves at bay along with every non-lethal creature around. 

Crouching very slowly, you reached for your knife, the warm wood connecting with your fingertips relaxed your stress just a little. 

A sigh of relief left your lips when a familiar bleating sound reached your ears. Releasing your knife, you pushed past the rest of the group to search the tall grass for the small herbivore. 

“It’s fine.” You breathed, your eyes falling on the excited baby, its cute face almost making you aww. “’s just a Shinehorn.” You crouched to carefully take the small light-brown goat in your arms, its tail wagging quickly in excitement. 

The troopers dropped their weapons, all their helmets now focussed on the wiggling animal in your arms. Slowly, you put it back down before giving him more pets under its chin. 

The Shinehorn was still very young, the top of his head reaching just below your knees and his tiny green horns flashing lowly in his excitement. You traced the two green lines marking its back with your fingers, the squeaks you received in response making you giggle. 

“What’s a Shinehorn?” Tech asked, crouching next to you to be closer and scan the baby with his helmet. 

“They are small herbivorous animal. Their horns can glow in the dark! Very useful when we have to do night hunts or anything in the dark.” You grabbed some berries from a bush nearby, feeding them to him. “They’re also very docile." 

With a last pet between its green horns, you got up and let your place to Wrecker who clearly wanted to gush over the newfound ball of cuteness. 

Out of the corner of your eyes, you noticed Crosshair, his hand still firmly wrapped around his rifle like the little goat would pound on him or something. 

“Oh! I just thought about that, I know you’re probably very experienced with your blasters seeing as you’re all the cream of the clones, but could you not have them in your hands?” You lifted your hands in the air in surrender at Crosshair’s constipated expression. “Just sayin’! Been there, done that, ya know!”

"You accidently shot someone?” Hunter turned his attention from the intriguing creature to you. 

“Not me. But before the laws strictly prohibed people to go out on Murphy day, it was common occurrence." 

All you received was a grunt of aknowledgement, before Hunter called his team back and started walking again. 

To your amusement, the little Shinehorn followed your steps, happily jumping around but never getting in anyones’ way. From time to time, you’d grab nearby berries from tall trees to feed him in hope that he’d take a permanent liking to you so you could maybe take him with you on your way back home. 

For the seventh time that morning, Tech tripped on his feet, muttering words in a foreign language that you were sure were curses. It was almost normal now. The small clone would fall on the ground, curse, get up and continue for the cycle to restart a couple of minutes later. You didn’t think any of it, having stopped turning around in concern at the 4th time. He had his armor to protect him after all. 

Although, this time you should have turned around. You would have seen that in his fall, Tech tripped Wrecker who was now losing his balance.

A clash of armor hitting armor mixed with the very sudden movement right beside you made you yelp in surprise. Hunter grunted, out of breath and confused, under Wrecker’s imposing form. 

Chuckles flew off your mouth, too quickly for you to keep them in, as the bigger clone moved off its C.O. 

"Maybe we could take a break.” You proposed, hand digging into your pocket to retrieve your tap. 

“Wouldn’t hurt." 

At Hunter’s approval you swiftly grabbed your knife, found the nearest bigger tree and tapped it to access the sugary water within the core of the tree. As the water started to drop down the tap, you moved yourself in front of the flow and opened your mouth to drink, calming down your thirsty driven mind. 

Once you were satisfied, you moved aside to let the others access the water. 

"Help yourselves.” You motioned toward the dripping tap before sitting next to Crosshair who was picking fruits in a small tree, his helmet on the jungle floor. 

Wrecker was the first to taste the water, his face enlightening the whole jungle with his delighted smile. 

“It’s sweet!” He stated to your amusement. He seemed more and more like a child. 

“Yeah. All the drinkable water here is sweet. If it doesn’t have a taste, you should spit it out, 'cause it means that it’s full of bacterias." 

You stretched your legs to be more comfortable, your hands behind you supporting your body. You petted absentmindedly the young Shinehorn, enjoying the humid wind caressing your face. 

Everyone had their chance to drink, the last one being Crosshair who removed the tap from the tree before throwing the object back at you at your demand. 

The goat approached Crosshair’s pile of fruit, clearly interested into eating them, when he was gently denied access by a hand. 

"Not for you Shiny.” The sniper muttered, protecting his precious. 

_Nice name._

“Pass me some, Crosshair?” Tech asked his brother from his spot before you, helmet now at his side. 

Without a word, you saw a fruit being thrown into Tech’s hands. The precision of the shot was flawless and it would have impressed you to no end if your eyes hadn’t caught the color of the fruit that Tech was bringing to his mouth. 

“Don’t eat that!” You yelled, pushing you forward to slap the pink fruit out of the clone’s hand. “Those are the bad ones.” You said, ignoring his yelp of pain at your slap.

“But they smell sweet like the water in the tree." 

"Yeah because the tree wants you to eat them instead of the good stuff. It’s a defence system.” You picked the fruit and threw it away. 

“The ones that smell not so good,” You said, picking up a grey similar fruit. “are the good ones. Taste sweet and won’t make you puke your guts for hours. There ya go.” You passed the fruit to Tech whose gaze was fixed onto something behind you. 

You turned, confused about Tech’s worried expression. Realisation hit you like a train, Crosshair didn’t have to tell you that he fucked up, his white face along with the almost completely eaten pink fruit in his hand were telling you enough. 

“Kriff. Are you feeling nauseous yet?” You genuinely asked, no sarcasm or malice in your voice. You knew what pain he’d be in, having learned your lesson the hard way, just like him. 

You’d passed a whole day puking like there was no end, bruising your abdominal muscles in the constant effort they had to muster so you could evacuate the content of your stomach, hurting from the biliary acid burning your throat, fighting against the fatigue, dehydration and starvation. 

“Yes.” You heard his breathing accelerating and knew what was coming. 

A shiver ran up your spine when he quickly turned around to empty his stomach on the jungle floor. You wanted to help him but knew he’d probably take it badly, so you let his brothers do their thing while you walked a bit away, searching for a specific plant. 

At the moment, you quickly forgot that at the beginning of the trip he had told you to shut up, that he had it coming. You were too empathetic for your good. Once again. 

“I’ll be back.” You told Hunter before venturing away with Shiny. 

“Please be close, please be close, please-” Searching around, you moved the grass around, peaking at the flowers for yellow petals with purple edges. Shiny whined at your side, nudging you a bit to get your attention, but you chose to ignore the needy baby to continue your flower hunt. 

A bit farther away, yellow petals caught your attention, your legs moving forward to get to them in seconds. With a victory hum, you crouched to pull the base of the flower, exposing its tortuous roots. 

You got up at the same time a low growl reached your ears, freezing you on the spot. Eyes scanned your right frantically for the source of the sound, a pair of sparkling dark hues staring back at you with hunger. Your blood ran cold into your veins, the imposing Dire bear was a good feet taller than you, surely reaching Wrecker’s height. 

You clutched the root into your left hand, your right hitching to grab your knife at your ankle. In a very slow movement, you lifted your foot to allow your hand to grab the wooden handle. You almost succeeded when Hunter chose this moment to come looking for you, yelling your name into the trees. 

The Dire bear got scared and ran for you in a roar and you knew you were dead. You couldn’t possibly outrun it and had no way to fight it. But you had to try, right? Run, I mean. 

So you ran, the most primal part of your brain taking control and ordered your legs to move as fast as possible towards the armed clones. 

You hadn’t ventured too far and Hunter had followed your trail, so your wide terrified eyes met his, the Dire bear almost on you to bite on your neck. In last resort, you put all your faith in the sergeant’s quick thinking, diving to the ground, screaming at him to shoot. 

You crashed unceremoniously on your chest, missing the sound of blasters opening fire. An incredibly heavy weight fell on you, pressing your whole body into the dirt, trapping your joined hands under your abdomen. The shock emptied your lungs of air, your mouth and nose were full of furr and dirt, making you panic. 

You desperately tried to push the weight away, take a deep breath of air and scream, but you couldn’t do anything. You were trapped. You’d asphyxiate and die. All this because you couldn’t control your stupid curiosity. Curiosity killed the tooka. 

You felt tears form in your eyes at the thought, for you were not ready to die. There was so much you still wanted to do. 

Suddenly, the weight disappeared from your back and you were harshly pulled away and rolled onto your back. Your crying wide eyes met the sergeant’s, your lungs taking in the biggest inhalations they ever let in, before a wobbly smile stretched your lips. 

“F-found t-the cu-re.” You managed to get out in broken words. Your hands opened slowly, showing the brown roots hidden between your fingers. 

Hunter sighed, relieved that you were alright despite crossing path with death. You were lucky he decided to follow the Shinehorn when it started acting up. 

“Are you okay Y/N?” Wrecker’s head appeared beside Hunter’s, searching your body for wounds. “You’re crying." 

Arms slipped under your back and knees, lifting you without a problem. Your hands immediately closed around the root, gripping them tightly like they were life itself. 

” ’m not dead so I’m good.“ Your head fell onto Hunter’s shoulder, you found comfort into the hard uncomfortable piece of armor. You were alive to feel it. "Thank you." 

He looked at you for a couple of seconds and you tried to control the heat assaulting your cheeks by taking deep breaths in. You definitely weren’t admiring his tattoo from up close. 

"Didn’t do it for you. I had to save the plant.” He answered, sarcasm lacing his words. 

You chuckled, closing your eyes for a second. You felt all your energy leaving your body, the adrenalin that powered you moments ago dissipated and let exhaustion consume you. 

“Is she alright?” Tech asked, as another retching sound echoed around. 

“You tell me. Scan her." 

It took a couple of seconds, but you managed to open your eyes to see Tech with his helmet on, the thin screen that was previously up was now right before his eyes. He had a tool in hand, blue rays emanating from its extremity to scan your body. 

"No broken bones or internal injury. She’s fine.” He lifted the screen back up to get a better view of your state. 

“Can you stand?” Hunter asked.

“Almost sure I can." 

So Hunter lowered your feet to the ground, his hand lifting near your shoulder in case you fell. Your legs were still a bit wobbly, but you stood up, trying to ground yourself at the best of your ability. 

You opened your numb fingers, giving the root to Tech who looked at it with a frown on his face. 

"Break a small piece, remove the skin and give it to Crosshair. It’ll help with the nausea and muscle pain.” You told him, proud that your voice didn’t break. 

“A piece like this?” He broke a piece and showed it to you, not wanting to give too much. They had learned that they should ask you first before eating something. 

“Yeah. Keep the rest for later." 

Nodding, Tech took the vibroknife in Hunter’s hand to peel the root, placed the rest of it in his bag, before walking to his grey-haired brother. He tripped once, but managed to stay on his feet. 

You sit on the ground to relieve your legs for a bit, at least until Crosshair was able to walk without puking every 30 seconds. You were sure he’d be as wobbly on his feet as you for a totally different reason. Definitely not ideal for a field trip in the wild jungle. 

It took a good 10 minutes for Crosshair’s stomach to settle, his retching stopped, letting him to deal with a slight nausea. With your tap, Hunter managed to get water to Crosshair and yourself before everyone packed up and prepared to go again. Shiny had returned after some time, the poor baby stopped running around and stayed closer to the group. 

"We’re almost there.” Tech announced at some point and you were grateful. Your legs were ready to abandon you for a while now, although you pushed through to not burden anyone with your adrenalin-less exhaustion. 

“The ship is just after these trees." 

_One feet before the other._ You repeated to yourself. At this point, all of your concentration was on your feet, you let the environment to Hunter and his apparently enhanced senses. _Right, left, right, lef-_

You bumped into Crosshair who had gained energy during the walk while you had the opposed effect. You waited for the harsh comment to come, but it never did. 

"Where’s the ship Tech?” Wrecker asked, confused. 

“That’s not possible! This isn’t the same place! The coordinates are wrong!” He started to panic.

You dropped on your knees beside Crosshair, the open clearing without a ship was the last tol. 

“Describe it to me. ” You muttered. 

“What?” The sniper asked, his glare finding your exhausted face. 

“Describe it to me. The place where you left your ship.” You concentrated yourself on your breathing, noticing how you started to inhale too quickly. 

“There was a field of glowing purple flowers and a stream with a big rock on one side. There was a gigantic tree too. Way bigger than the rest.” He remembered. 

You sighed, tried to get back up with your shaky hands only to be helped by the sniper who pulled you by the pit of your arm. You smiled at him in thanks.

“That’s the Waytree.” You pointed on your left. “20 minutes of walk in this direction." 

"But that’s such a great gap between my coordinates and-” Tech stopped as soon as he met your tired eyes, reading perfectly what you were telling yourself. “It’s today." 

"Exactly.” You huffed, forcing your legs to start walking again. 

Hunter watched you intensely but you pushed forward, forcing your body to obey you and not fail. All it took was one word from Hunter and a movement of his head toward you. 

“Wrecker." 

Suddenly, you found yourself bridal style in his arms and were carried for the rest of the trip despite you affirming that you were fine and that you were perfectly able to walk by yourself. 

From your position, you had a perfect view of the sky, worrying you to no end.

"No pressure but I’m sure it’ll soon start to ra-” A drop of water hit Wrecker’s helmet right before your eyes. “Awesome.” You sighed. 


	3. Running from your Problems

You found solace in the fact that the rain wasn’t as heavy as what you were used to. Instead of the torrential rain that barely allowed you to see a meter before you, the only handicap you had was the discomfort of your clothes sticking to your skin and to Wrecker’s armor. With a smile, you thanked yourself for choosing a dark outfit despite the clear sky that greeted you early in the morning, your initial light blue shirt would have forced you to throw yourself in mud to save what you had left of dignity.

Speaking of dignity, you couldn’t stop chuckling along with Wrecker at the shining star guiding the group. Tech would sometimes turn around to glare at the both of you, but really, there was nothing he could do to save himself at this point. 

The dry phosphorescent poo mixed with puke he fell in earlier finally kicked in now that the sun was hidden behind the dark clouds, illuminating his armor like a mighty beacon leading your steps towards salvation. Most of the sticky mixture had washed off his armor by now, getting rid of what he couldn’t remove by himself, leaving the light parts of his armor stained in the phosphorescent color. 

“Don’t take it like that Techie! At least the smell is gone!” You laughed along with Wrecker. 

At the sound, Shiny fussed, jumping happily on his tiny legs until he bumped into Crosshair who crouched slightly to calm him with a pat on the head. Shiny walked near his favorite sniper, his green horns illuminating proudly his steps like a young star that somehow found its way down onto this nightmare of a planet. Watching the duo from your venture point behind them, you thought about how opposed those two were but strangely enough, seemed to be the most comfortable around each other. 

Well, maybe you would be returning home alone after all. 

If you made it home that is. 

“Are we close?” Hunter stopped walking to fall back at Wrecker’s side. 

Squinting your eyes to protect them from the rain, you adjusted your grip around Wrecker as you moved your head forward to get a better view of your position. 

“Almost there!” You reported cheerfully, your head falling back in its place on the hard pauldron, your forehead comfortably pressed at the base of the black helmet that protected Wrecker from the rain. 

“Enjoying yourself?” The gruff voice reached your ears again, although this time there was something new in his tone. You shrugged it off, passing the fault on the occasional water drop that fell in your ear.

“Can’t say I don’t.” You replied sheepishly, a smile stretching your lips despite your best efforts. 

It was nice to be treated like that for the very first time in your life. Not like a damsel in distress, you still wanted to smack him for that, but to be treated like you were important. Like someone cared. It was warming and comforting so you’d take it while it lasted. Plus, it allowed you to recharge your batteries for a bit as well as giving time for the muscles in your legs to relax and stop contracting painfully. 

“She likes me Sarge!“ 

His arms tighten slightly around you as he bumped his brother playfully, your feet hitting armor in the movement. 

"It’s nothing to be so happy about.” You mumbled under your breath, low enough that the rain swallowed your words. 

“I don’t see why.” Hunter walked a bit faster so he had a visual on you, head tilted slightly to the side. 

“What?” You asked at the same time Wrecker did, who turned to you, a smile on his lips that you couldn’t see under his painted helmet. 

A yelped from Tech at the front alerted you that he tripped. Again. 

“I don’t see why he shouldn’t be happy that you like him.” He clarified. 

Your cheeks suddenly became very hot as your brain finally remembered that his hearing was far above average. To make it worse, Wrecker’s visor was now solely fixed on your face and you were sure that he was analyzing the pink covering your cheeks.

Looking around for an escape, your eyes found the perfect getaway in the shape of an endless field of glowing purple flowers in the distance. 

“Look! We’re here!” You blurted out with too much enthusiasm, unlatching your hands from behind Wrecker’s neck and pushing yourself out of his arms so suddenly that he didn’t have the time to adjust his grip. 

You hurried on your feet despite your aching knees who met the hard ground without warning, your desperation to escape the subject propelling you forward, passing Tech the glorious shining star and into the meadow towards the river where a grey ship was stationed on the opposite bank. 

“ ‘cause ’m far from a catch Sarge.” You repeated the words you’ve heard so many times before, feet entering the cold water to get to the other side as soon as possible. There was no way he could’ve heard that one. Not over the rain, the current of the river, and a good couple of meters separating you. 

“What was that?” You yelped in surprise, Tech’s eyes widening in turn following your outburst. He must have run after you. 

“Nothing.” You breathed, a hand over your heart in an attempt to calm it down. 

“We should cross the river in tandem. We’ll have less chance to get dragged by the current.” He dropped the subject and offered you his hand after getting in the waist high water with you. 

“Good idea.” You took his warm gloveless hand in yours, lacing your fingers with his for a better grip. 

You walked at the same pace, each of you using the other to balance yourself. Your feet slipped once under the strong force of the current, sending your heart into a frantic rhythm until your boots passed the small inch of slippery rocks and found a good grip into a bed of mud. Tech had stopped walking, his grip tightening around your fingers as much as you did around his in your panic. 

You nodded to tell him that you were ready to start again and he followed your lead. With small steps you made it to the other side safely, Tech got out of the water first and turned around to offer you a hand. Grateful, you let him pull you out of the mad stream.

“Thanks, Tech.” You huffed on your knees, breathing deeply to force your heart to work faster, providing more blood flow through your body to fight against the cold of the water. 

You heard three splashes behind you, the remaining boys must have decided to follow Tech’s idea and cross the current with each other. With a quick glance, you confirmed that they were indeed following the example, Shiny secured under Wrecker’s arm. 

“You’re welcome.” He presented his hand again to help you up. 

Just as your hand lifted to his, a movement just behind him caught your attention, a hiss reached your ears, stopping your heart. 

Time slowed for a second, Tech’s residual glow illuminating two elliptical pupils staring him down with a predatory glint and rows after rows of thin razor sharp teeth and terrifyingly long fangs creeping their way over his head. 

You saw Tech’s head turning to see what caused the sound, his other hand flying to his holster, but you were faster. Your heart started beating again, pumping blood like never before, your hand shot out to close around Tech’s outstretched one and with a sharp pull, you made him dive into you, away from the deadly clasping maws. 

“Get up! Get up!” You stressed as the remaining Batchers yelled to know what was wrong. 

Ignoring them for the most urgent matter, you pushed him off hurriedly all the while keeping a firm grip on his hand, turned around, and pulled him after you in the opposed direction. 

You turned your head to see if the beast was following and sure enough, the draconic head of the Basilisk was gaining ground, its powerful body waving rapidly on the wet grass. Its dark scales made him hard to discern under the clouded sky, although his eyes and his three-forked tail made a stark contrast. 

“Don’t stop running Tech!” You yelled, praying that he wouldn’t trip like he did all the way here. 

“Don’t worry!" 

The ground shook under your feet, both your heads snapping back at the impact. The basilisk disappeared underground, digging a hole with its strong and heavy body, using the thick spikes covering the whole length of its body to dig and move around away from its preys’ eyes. 

"It went underground!” Tech panicked. “This thing can go underground!" 

"We have to get off the ground! Now!” You yelled over the rain. 

The ship was now forgotten, too far behind to even hope of getting there in time. You had two options, climbing the Waytree which you were sure Tech couldn’t possibly climb in his armor or get up the rock promontory. 

The ground rumbled beneath your feet, telltale of the Basilisk getting closer. 

“Up there!” You pointed to the top of the inclined rock overlooking the meadow. 

At this point, Tech took the lead, running faster than you, pulling you with him in his wake to get to safety. The unusual speed along with the wet grass slipping underneath your boots almost made you trip more than once. 

“Tech, are you two okay?” Hunter’s voice barely resonated out of the clones flashing wrist armor piece. His voice managed to calm you to some point for some unknown reason. Maybe it was because he saved you from hungry teeth before. “Tech!" 

"Fine for now.” He answered in a slightly higher tone than usual. “Not for long." 

"Hang on.” The line cut and you found out that it panicked you more. 

The shaking intensified to a point where you thought for the second time that day that you were done. Your heartbeat resonated in your head, the sound of the rain filled your ears, the splatter of the water hitting your skin made you numb and the vibration beneath your feet put you on edge. 

With a scream on the verge of your lips, you finally made it to the promontory, Tech pulling behind him until you reached the very end of the rock. 

A crash erupted behind you, the Basilisk erupting from under ground where the soft ground let place to something way too hard for it to continue digging. 

You saw the brille protecting its eyes retract as its maw opened in a warning hiss, slowly creeping its way towards you. A quick glance behind showed a nothingness that scared you to the bone. Either you jumped into the abyss and broke a lot of bone at your landing four stairs below or you could get chewed and digested by a gigantic snake. 

Tech grabbed his blaster, aiming at the approaching beast, the hand still gripping you tightening in fear. 

Before he could fire, the Basilisk screeched in pain as a blaster bolt hit him right in the eye. The sudden sound made the both of you jump, Tech’s shoulder bumping you enough for you to lose your balance. 

“Tech!” You yelped, pulling onto him to regain footing. 

The Basilisk continued its ascension of the rock, crawling its way towards its prizes. Blaster bolts rained onto its side, infuriating the creature. Turning around in a hiss, the Basilisk changed its target, choosing to hunt the remaining clones instead. As it roamed away, the forked tail hit the promontory aggressively, the resulting shockwave projecting you right on your stomach to the ground, your top half dangling over the edge, hand still trapped between the engineer’s who had lost its footing and fell off your perch. 

Luckily, your left foot caught into a fissure, keeping you anchored. 

“Don’t let go!” He pleaded, panic lacing his voice. 

“Never.” You gritted your teeth, locking your bones in position. 

With a colossal effort, you forced your boot down deeper into the crack while trying to pull Tech back up with your body half over the edge. 

Rain traveled down your face, dripping onto Tech’s glasses that you now noticed had a flashing red light on their sides. Wet strands blocked your peripheral view, allowing you to concentrate solely on your task of saving your newly acquired friend and forget the other three fighting a gigantic carnivorous snake without any knowledge on its species. 

A sudden bright light illuminated Tech’s eyes, the raw fear in them screaming at you to _not drop him_ gave you a boost of strength. Ignoring the burning of your muscles, you forced your arms to pull harder, to push your limit and _pull him up_. 

Your grip on him was slipping, his wet deadweight too much for your small fingers. Surely, if you both survived this, your fingers would be sore and bruised. 

Slowly, inch by inch, you managed to pull him back on the rock, your arms shaking under the effort and groans falling from your lips. Tech managed to grip onto a crevice of his own, helping you in your critical task. He almost had his elbows secured on the rock, prompting you to put all your remaining strength behind this one last pull. 

The second his elbows touched the rock, your foot slipped and you immediately let go of his hand to not drag him down with you. 

It was disappointing to finally know that no, your life doesn’t flash before your eyes moments before you die. You’d have loved to see your dad one last time before… well. 

Screams pierced your ears right before darkness engulfed you in a sickening crack.


	4. The Survivor

His blood froze in his veins, paralyzing his limbs as soon as your hand slipped from his, his grip alone wasn’t enough to keep you from falling. It happened so fast. One second your feet passed his eyes and he couldn’t get a hold of them in his panic, his finger tips merely brushing the base of your boots.

He finally recovered from his fright, his head shooting downwards to helplessly discern your body plunging towards the ground, your name escaping his lips in a horrified scream. 

The light emanating from the now working _Havoc Marauder_ reflected onto your wet form, allowing Tech to see every second of your free-falling as well as your landing, engraving the picture of your immobile broken form into his brain. 

He continued screaming your name in hope that you’d move, that he wouldn’t have to live with the fact that he’d dropped you when you’d _not_ dropped him. 

His fingers hurt from the strength he used to clutch onto the rock, his nails scratching and breaking against the surface without a care in the world. 

Time passed by, the sounds of blaster bolts, of a running ship, and the enraged hiss of the reptile barely registered under the incessant rambling of his brain, telling him that a fall this high _headfirst_ had a 0% chance of survival. All he could concentrate on was the absence of movement from your part and the knowledge flowing through his mind. 

He stopped screaming your name when Wrecker kneeled cautiously to your side, watching over your body but not daring to touch you as if he could worsen your state. As if he could aggravate death.

Hands grabbed his upper arms, almost scaring him into letting go of the cliff. Crosshair instead tightened his grasp and pulled him up with a grunt, dragging him on the rock until he was far away from the edge. 

“Are you hurt?” Crosshair asked, his helmet moving from his head to his boots, scanning for injuries. 

“No.” Was all he replied before getting on his feet and running down the promontory to confirm his suspicions. 

He tripped on his feet halfway down, crashing to the ground and rolling the rest of the way down. Fortunately, his helmet protected his head. _Unlike yours._ Crosshair called his name, worried that his brother knocked himself out or worse, but Tech merely got back to his feet like every 28 times he tripped before and continued. 

He ran on the grass, eager to know the truth despite the fact that he was afraid to know. 

He got to Wrecker just as the ship landed closer to your position, the ramp opening only a few meters away to let Hunter join the group, curses escaping him under his breath. 

You laid there on your chest, head to the side, eyes closed with your mouth slightly open, one of your arms was crushed at an abnormal angle beneath your chest, the other resting in the grass above your head. A pool of blood oozing from beneath your head tainted the ground and stained your skin and clothes, throwing Tech’s hopes to the ground. 

“She’s alive.” Wrecker said, his voice lower than usual, worry preventing him from being his bubbly self. One of his arms was clutching slightly at his chest, the other supported his bent position on the ground. 

Tech was surprised to say the least and because you apparently survived a 0% survival rate fall, he had to check for himself. 

He put a shaky hand on the ground to restrain from falling on you, a gasp left his lips when the spongy wet moss beneath him almost absorbed his hand whole. You’d landed on a bed of moss. His hopes increased at the newfound information. 

His fingers moved carefully to your warm neck, sliding down to your pulse point. A weak throbbing bounced beneath his fingertips, his eyes widening when his brain registered that you were indeed alive, but not for much longer if you didn’t receive the needed medical care. 

“She needs a medical outpost ASAP.” He snapped, bolting into the ship to get whatever they could use to get you back into the ship without moving your neck. 

He’ll not drop you this time. 

___________________

Tech watched your intubated motionless body from his spot on the chair beside your bed, datapad in hands. 

He went against Hunter’s order and came to check on you. Again. 

He waited for the sergeant to fall asleep, the long days watching over you and making sure that no one found out that you weren’t really a pilot finally consumed the remaining of his energy, sending the dark-haired clone to a long night of sleep. Leaving the way clear for Tech to confront your comatose body. 

He pressed the play button, the images haunting his mind streaming before him, the fear in your eyes, your desperation, you pulling him up with massive efforts before your foot slipped and you fell. 

Tech rewinded and slowed the caption. Your fingers opened around his hands before slipping away. He rewinded again. Your fingers opened. The water making you slip easily in his grasp. He rewinded again one last time and paused on your _clearly_ open hand. 

He had watched the whole event again and again and again, telling himself each and every time that this wasn’t right. People didn’t die for clones. _Clones_ died for people. 

“Why?” He asked shakily. He wanted to shout at you for some unknown reason and it infuriated him. 

As always, the only answer he had was the regular sound of the respirator breathing for you.


	5. Deal

At first, you felt numb. It felt like your mind was wandering around, completely separated from your body. Where you should be feeling your hands and feet, there was only nothingness, a way too cold nothingness. 

Then the soreness poked at the corner of your brain, slowly assaulting your nerves, crawling up your body until all you could feel was a mass of terribly aching limbs. A constant discomfort deep within your throat prompted you to cough it out to relieve yourself of the nagging feeling, the weak attempts miserably failing to alleviate the sensation of something invading your throat. 

As you tried to raise a hand to rub at your neck, you realized that something was keeping it down. Something warm. And tight. 

Like Tech’s hand when he was pulling you away from the predator on your tail. Or when he was dangling in the air on the verge of death, the only thing keeping him from disappearing into the abyss being your fingers clutching his hand. 

Fear flooded your system, fighting the exhaustion paralyzing your limbs. Your hand closed around the warm soft object in your grip, your hold tightening despite the pain radiating from your fingers. You couldn’t let go. He would die. Your friend would die. 

You didn’t hear the yelp over the frenetic heartbeat booming in your ears, your closed eyes projecting you directly to that day when the dark sky offered the perfect camouflage to the draconic reptile. He was concealed in the dark, waiting for you to drop your guard. No. He was waiting for you to drop Tech so he could feast on his flesh. 

Your eyes flew open in terror as the hand in yours slipped slightly, your fist crushing it with all your might to keep it secure. 

The unexpected brightness brings tears to your eyes, the first droplets falling down your cheeks before a familiar figure invaded your personal space, his other hand flying to your shoulder in a comforting grip. 

His lips were moving, trying to tell you something that you couldn’t hear over the hammering of your heart or your quick breathing or the hectic beeping sound on your left. 

Lifting your head a little, pain exploded behind your eyes, forcing your head back down immediately. Your eyes moved to your hand, still imprisoning another’s in its vice grip. The sight made you relax slightly. You’d not dropped him. 

Before your attention could return to the person hovering above you, his hand on your shoulder retreated as someone else took his place from your other side, a total stranger that looked oddly familiar in some way. He moved quickly around you, talking to you while putting something terribly cold onto your chest multiple times before removing something taped to your face and removing the thing down your throat. 

You coughed as you felt the thing move out, more tears leaking down your face at the effort. 

“You’re okay Y/N.” You finally heard, your mind concentrating on what was around instead of yourself. “You’re okay.” He repeated in case you still didn’t hear him, his other hand returning to your shoulder. 

His dark locks seemed even wilder than they were in the jungle, although they weren’t slick with sweat and rain anymore. His armor was off, leaving him in a black skin fitted suit that allowed you to appreciate just perfectly fit he was beneath all that composite. His tattoo was still intriguing, but his eyes reminded you too much of someone else to let yourself wander about how soft the ink would feel beneath your fingertips. 

“T-” You coughed at the roughness of your throat, increasing the pulsing feeling into your skull. 

“Don’t talk yet.” Hunter chided, getting closer as the other man moved around, checking machines and bags disposed all around you. Where was water when you needed it?

“Tech’s fine. All he got was a bruised hand.” His gaze moved to your joined hands on the bed. “No wonder. You’ve got a hell of a grip." 

Your eyes widen in realization that you were still clutching him in a terribly tight grasp, pain erupting from your white fingers as soon as you relaxed the tension. 

He shook his hand once before massaging his digits to resume the blood flow. He turned to you, all traces of pain washed off his face, relief, and exhaustion taking its place. 

"You scared us all to death, you know that?" 

You frowned, unsure as to why. 

"Tech said that the fall should have been fatal.” It clicked in your head, your fall replaying back in your head, the air hitting you full force, your stomach on the verge of your lips, the screams resonating in your ears. 

“Somehow, you survived the fall and we took you to the closest GAR medical outpost." 

You frowned, looking around to the room but were interrupted by a light flashing directly into your eyes. You blinked, surprised but tried to maintain them open for the apparent exam. 

"Follow the light.” The doctor softly instructed, obliging as he moved the light from right to left. He nodded in approval. “Does it hurt somewhere?”

You nodded slowly, a finger pointing at your head the best you could with your stiff joints. 

“Your head?” You nodded in confirmation. 

“Your pilot will be monitored closely for a while. As of now, her vitals are good and I’ll give her something for the pain.” He addressed Hunter, the latter nodding in understanding. Your head tilted to the side, your eyebrows dipped in a frown. _Pilot?_ “Keep her rested, no moving around like the other one.” He finished on a disapproving tone and pointed look, pressed some buttons on a machine right beside you, and left the room when Hunter promised to keep you in bed. 

“We had to pass you as our pilot so you could be treated here, so play the game.” He whispered when the doctor exited the room and turned to meet your confused face.

Your eyes widened, quickly shaking your head because _you don’t know shit about ships! What if someone asked you about stuff GAR related?_ Hissing, you abruptly stopped, your head spinning and hurting. 

“Stop that. You may have survived but you had a severe concussion, some internal injuries, broke an arm, a few ribs, and have lots and lots of bruises.” His eyes roamed your face, analyzing the different colors painting your skin, although you couldn’t care less because your eyes caught the cast enveloping your right arm. 

You were fucked. You’d never be able to go home and act like you didn’t go out on Murphy day. You’ll get punished, your life will become more miserable, people will avoid you even more than they already did. Maybe they’ll quick you out of the village! 

Your face must have shown your panic or maybe it was the fact that the beeping sound accelerated along with your heartbeat, but Hunter got closer, his hand reaching for your shoulder once more. 

“What’s wrong?" 

"T-” You coughed before clearing your throat. Your mouth felt like it was full of sand, but you had to get it out. “They’ll know-” You winced. “-I was out." 

"Well. I’m sure they know by now.” He looked sheepish, scratching the back of his head like that, almost uncomfortable to tell you some precious information. “You’ve been out for a bit less than a month." 

"A month?!” You choked, eyes widening in shock. This couldn’t be possible. He must have hit his head too.

“You’re awake!” The door to your room opened swiftly, letting inside the rest of the batch, all without armor. Tech hurried to your side first, taking your bruised hand in his and staring at you like he couldn’t believe it. 

“I am.” You answered in a daze, still distracted by the fact that you missed a month. 

“You should be dead.” He whispered in awe. 

“Jeez, thanks for the vote of confidence.” You coughed as Hunter called his brother, horrified. 

“No, I mean… I’m happy that you’re alive! All I’m saying is that you had a 50% chance to die from a 48 feet high fall. But _headfirst_?! Your chances were close to none!”

You gulped. “Cool?" 

"He should be thanking you instead of telling you all that.” Hunter pointed out, a hard look on his face directly focussed on his little brother. 

“Thanks,” Said brother whispered, his free hand scratching his neck in shame. “for saving my life. Twice." 

"No thanks needed. You’d have done the same.” You moved your hand so you could give him a comforting squeeze. 

“Sarge told you you’d survive the day Y/N!” Wrecker approached from Hunter’s side, happiness lacing his voice. 

“And I told you guys would give me your bad lu-” Your smile disappeared as soon as you took in the bandages covering his naked chest. Some patches of exposed skin were tainted from a sick yellow to some dark green, worrying you to no end. 

“What happened to you?” You croaked, coughing when your voice raised in pitch. 

“There.” You heard Crosshair’s low voice before a cup appeared in front of you. 

“I don’t think she shoul-" 

"I want it!” You hurried out of breath, cutting Tech before anyone could think about following his instructions. 

Taking the cup from Crosshair’s hand, Hunter approached it to your hand not attached to a cast. 

“Good to do it yourself?" 

"I’ll try.” You shrugged, fighting past the exhaustion in your bone to lift your hand to the white carton cup, only for it to burn up all your energy. “Shit.”

The good point was that whatever the doctor gave you was working perfectly, the throbbing in your head was gone and the pulsing in your hand as well. 

“Here.” The cup reached your lips and very slowly, Hunter tilted it to appease your thirst without drowning you in the process. You would have been mortified at the idea of being helped like this, but in this very precise situation, all you could think of was _drink_. 

Lie. _This is not sweet! Bacterias!_ You almost spit it out by reflex but remembered at the last second that they surely wouldn’t give you undrinkable water. It was difficult, but you forced yourself to swallow. 

Once satisfied, you lifted your head to signal to Hunter to back off. You hummed your thanks, smiling gratefully and totally ignoring the smirk Crosshair send his tattooed brother, focussing your attention on Wrecker instead. 

“What happened?” You repeated yourself. 

“The giant snake hit me with its tail.” He shrugged like it was nothing. “I’m fine, don’t worry. I’ve survived worse!" 

You stared him up and down, wondering how in the universe he could have survived that. Its tail was _rock hard_ to allow it to move underground. There was no way- 

"What could be worse than a Basilisk wanting you for dinner?!" 

"That’ll be a story for another time.” A woman said from the door. “Now that you are awake we need to run some more exams.” She smiled warmly at you, and you immediately knew that you liked her. “You can all come back later.”

“Aw already?” You chuckled slightly at Wrecker’s disappointment. 

“Unfortunately. But I promise to take good care of her for you all.” She replied, entering the room to get to the machines at your side. 

“We’ll be back.” Hunter promised before bending to your ear, whispering cheekily, “You’re a hell of a catch. Never think otherwise.” Leaving you agape to follow the others out without a glance back. He didn’t need to, the heart monitor told him all he needed to know. You were mortified. He had heard you by the river.

Crosshair saluted you in the doorway, Tech patted your hand, Wrecker waved and Hunter smirked before closing the door. 

“I’ve never seen them so worried about someone else other than the four of them. It’s nice to see them opening to someone else.” She smiled, noting information on her datapad. 

_If only you knew… I know them for only 2 hours top._

________________________

You gulped down the last bit of your small breakfast, the tasteless bread leaving a soggy feeling in your mouth. 

You’d slept like a baby after Mylana finished to examine your cast, reflexes, and more. Your strength returned during the night, allowing you to lift your cast-free left arm to feed yourself. 

Patch, the clone doctor assigned to your case passed to assess your improvement and informed you that he’d remove the nasogastric tube so you could eat by yourself. Removing the thing was nasty, definitely something you didn’t want to live again but it was worth it. Or so you thought. Because the food here was depressing compared to Fors’ vast variety of fresh fruits, meat, and vegetables. 

It was only when Patch presented himself that you realized how different the Bad Batch was from the rest of the clones. He was the very first ‘normal’ clone you encountered. It pushed you to think about how the batchers must have had it hard, to live in a world where everything must be identical and you’re not. They had no chance to conceal it, to be themselves like all the others because they were physically different. They had no chance to try and save themselves. It was infuriating and unfair. 

“How’s breakfast?” Tech asked from the door, moving uncomfortably from a foot to the other. 

“Not what I’m used to but it’s edible.” You shrugged, waving him in. “Don’t be a stranger, I’m your pilot after all.”

Tech chuckled at that, closed the door to sit at the foot of the bed. For a while he sat there, watching his fingers, sometimes pressing them together but never facing you. 

“You don’t have to apologize for anything Tech. I don’t know what’s bugging you, but it’s fine. I’m alive.” You told him honestly, surprising him. 

“I-What I said yesterday was inappropriate and I’m very sorry. It’s just- I watched the recording times and times again and- Why did you let go of my hand?” He finally met your eyes offering you disbelief, confusion, sadness, and _betrayal_ on a golden plate.

“I told you there was nothing to apologize for. I let go of your hand because I didn’t want to drag you down with me.” You lifted your hand when he opened his mouth to interrupt you, effectively shutting him up. “I’d do it again. Don’t beat yourself over it, because it’s not your fault Tech.” You ended firmly, no trace of your previous amusement on your face. 

He analyzed your face for a second before averting his eyes. 

“How’s your hand?” You asked, eager to fill the silence. 

“Still bruised.” The corner of his lips lifted slightly as he showed you his colorful hand. “I couldn’t close it at first, but it passed.” He chuckled. “Oh, and I had to wash my armor at least 3 times to get rid of the phosphorescence." 

You laughed full-on before pain shot through your chest at the movement. 

"Don’t make me laugh!" 

"Slept well then.” Hunter entered followed by Crosshair and Wrecker with a black shirt on this time. 

“Best night of sleep I had in a while Sarge.” You beamed. It was true, the life in the village was hard enough. Not because of your work, but because the incessant persecution was heavy to bear. 

“Good to hear. We came back after the exam but you were asleep.” He positioned himself at the foot of the bed, letting Wrecker all the place to sit in the chair at your side. 

“Thanks for letting me sleep then!" 

"Even if we wanted to wake you, Patch would’ve had our asses before we even opened the door!” Wrecker laughed, stopping his poking of the fluid bag hanging near his shoulder to smile at you. 

“He just wants me to be discharged sooner than later.” You batted his hand away as he resumed his movement. 

“Speaking of discharge, we’ll take you back to Fors as soon as you’re cleared.” The playful smile fell of your face in a heartbeat. 

“Oh. Ok. Thanks." 

"What’s the matter?” Crosshair approached at Hunter’s question, clearly wanting to know the answer. 

“Nothing. Can’t wait to go back.” You faked a smile that didn’t reach your eyes, not fooling a single clone in the room.

“What is it?” The sniper inquired, surprising you that he’d care about your feelings and well, you. 

“It’s just… I’m done. People know that I went out on Murphy day and they certainly think me dead right now.” You explained.

“Well, they’ll be happy to see that you’re not.” Tech tilted his head, not understanding where the problem was. 

“No one misses the village’s freak. Ever. They won’t throw a celebration because I’m alive, they’ll kick me out for breaking the law, and because I’ll attract them bad luck." 

Silence fell over the room and suddenly you felt an urge to pull on the needles in your arms and hand and run out the door to avoid the conversation and all the shame accompanying it. 

"You’re not a freak.” You scoffed at Wrecker, all the insults thrown at you during your life echoing in your head like a curse. 

“Wanting more than just living the life that was imposed on me at birth doesn’t fit under the norms on Fors. A female having weapons is not acceptable, even less a female hunting. Working a physical job instead of stayin’ at home is not exemplary. Plus, I’m still single! I told off the guy who asked for my hand after my dad died and went as far as menacing him with a knife. After that, I was pretty much a goner.” You recalled painfully, hands clenching around the sheets, eyes closing in shame.

“I’m always being stared at like a freak show, pushed around by my supposed peers, thrown in the mud when possible, or let behind in a storm. Oh let’s not forget that I went out on Murphy day. Now, that’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever done but damn did it felt good to break their stupid law! I’m sure I’ll be exiled at best or executed at worse." 

You finally took a deep breath in, canalizing your frustration to not take it out on the medical equipment helping you get better. The silence was heavier than before and you thought that maybe the drip Patch showed you for the episodes of pain could help you relieve some of the pressure crushing you. 

"Your planet is hell.” Was all Crosshair had to say for you to smile again. 

“It is.” You confirmed, eyes still closed. 

“We need a pilot.” That got you to open your eyes, confused at Hunter. 

“So? I’m not a pilot. My planet doesn’t even have datapads." 

"We’ll train you.” Tech and Wrecker were as surprised as you were, although your big friend was the most enthusiast out of the group. 

“Really Sarge?” He asked, hopeful. 

“Wo there, calm down. We’ve known each other for 2 hours!” You reasoned in disbelief. He couldn’t possibly offer you a job, an escape route out of your misery, after walking alongside you for 2 hours more or less. “You don’t know me!" 

"On the contrary, I’ve learned plenty in 2 hours.” He countered, his serious eyes telling you that he passed his time analyzing your actions, your motives, who you were. 

It was really tempting, but you couldn’t help to feel that this was rushed. It was, right?

“Freaks help each other.” Crosshair added putting a stop to your doubt. They were the same as you. 

“I told you already Cross.” You smirked at him. “You’re not defects. Simply the improved versions of your species.” You nudged his arm pressed at the foot of the bed that he was leaning on next to Hunter with your sheet covered toes. 

“You seen Patch?” He lifted an eyebrow at you, not believing that after seeing the real deal you still talked highly of them. 

“I did. Really handsome.” You paused, to bit your bottom lip. “But that just means that you guys are even more handsome.” He scoffed and you laughed, happy to get a smirk out of him. 

“So, wanna become a pilot?” Hunter reiterated, waiting. He seemed so patient, unbothered, but you could see it beneath the surface. He was anxious to know the answer. 

“On one condition.” Held your chin high, ignoring how Wrecker’s face split into a wide grin and how Tech straightened at your side. 

“Name it.”

“I wanna touch that tattoo of yours.” You smirked. 

Wrecker exploded in laughter, Tech blinked in incredulity until it dawned on him and his cheeks became pink from the blood rush and Crosshair simply rolled his eyes, pushing himself off the bed. 

“Deal.” He smirked in turn, not once moving his eyes from your lips. 

_Finally_.


	6. Epilogue

“Today’s the day!” Wrecker exclaimed excitedly, opening the door so quickly that it hit the wall before bouncing back to hit his arm. 

Unbothered, he pushed the door back to approach your frightened form on the bed to hit your shoulder playfully. 

“Ready to return to the ship, pilot?” He laughed like this was the funniest joke of the universe. Well. In a sense it was. 

“I’m discharged?” You asked, hopeful to finally get out of the medbay. Patch and Mylana have been very kind from day one and you were eternally grateful for their support through your healing process. But you were ready to get away from the white walls, bacta smells and occasional nocturnal pain screams down the hallway.

“You are!” He confirmed, placing a pile of neatly folded clothes with your clean boots on the bed beside your folded legs. “Crosshair got you some clothes." 

Your eyebrows shot to your hairline, well, what remained of it. To reduce the swelling of your brain they had to shave some of your hair to access the skull so Mylana offered to do a sidecut to save the remaining of your hair and make you a bit more fashionable. You were glad that you accepted, the style definitely suited you and the appreciative look you received from a certain sergeant made you forget what the word ‘insecurity’ meant. Added to your apparent scar, you looked badass. 

"Is there another Crosshair on base? 'Cause I don’t think we’re talking about the same Cross.” You maintained his gaze, bewildered. 

Sure, the sniper had warmed up a bit to you. He came to visit, rarely, but still came nonetheless. He didn’t talk much but his company was enough. He usually brought you holobooks about ships, from their mechanics to how to fly them. 

He’d sometimes talk about some of his flying experience or recall some pranks he and Wrecker pulled on the regs if you sighed from boredom enough times. Oh and he brought you a tiny cup of caf one time. Tiny victories. 

But to get you clothes? That you noticed were the right size? You must have done a lot more progress than you thought. 

“Yeah. Said the gown would smell bacta.” He bent over to sniff near your shoulder. “And he’s not wrong." 

You rolled your eyes, pushing his shoulder away.

"Fine. Wait outside, I’ll change." 

With a salute, he exited the room and closed the door slowly this time. 

You grabbed the clothes, quickly pulled the socks on, followed by the black cargo pants. You admired in awe the lots and lots of pockets and immediately thought _how many things you could put in them_. Your own cargo pants didn’t even have that many pockets. You swiftly removed the gown, folded it in a ball before throwing it in the basket in the corner of the room, cheering silently when you aimed right at your first attempt. Your arm really got better in the last 2 weeks the cast has been off. 

You traced the scars on your inner arm and abdomen, your proofs that you survived hell and came back stronger. With a smile, you pulled on the grey long sleeve shirt Crosshair chose for you. You pulled up the sleeves a bit until they reached just below your elbow and stepped in your boots to hurriedly get out. 

"Looking good Y/N!” Wrecker whistled looking you up and down, catching the attention of the nurses office. 

“I have to agree with that.” Came Mylana’s voice, admiration in her eyes as she nodded with a grin.

“It’s all thanks to you.” You winked at her, passing a hand through your shaved side, carefully avoiding your sensitive scar. 

“I dare to think that I did a good job with those stitches. I should have some credits.” Patch appeared from around the corner, datapad in hands. 

“You did and I can’t thank you enough!” You laughed, hugging him when he opened his arms. 

“You’re welcome. Take care of yourself. No jumping off cliffs again.” He chided, letting you go with a pat on your shoulder to join the nurse station. 

“I will! And I fell! Big difference!” You countered, earning a scoff with a shake of his head. 

“Well, this is goodbye until next time then! Although it would be nice if you weren’t injured.” Mylana hugged you, her hand softly patting your back. 

“I’ll be careful mom.” You snarked, chuckling. “See ya Lana! Take care!” You jogged to join Wrecker who took a head start. 

He walked you through the medbay, walked a long hallway and finally showed you the hangar where you spotted a familiar ship stationed at the far end. You took a deep breath in, letting out a moan at the smell of fresh air, oil and smoke. 

“I missed this.” You informed Wrecker, arms open wide at your side to feel the breeze stroking your exposed skin. 

“I know what you mean.” He resumed walking, glancing at you as you followed. “I was in the medbay for a month for that.” He reminded you, pointing at his scar on the side of his face. 

“I was in there for three.” You deadpanned, looking around to take in the clones moving crates around and the mechanics repairing ships. 

Before you knew it, you reached the ship where Hunter was waiting down the ramp. 

“Looking good.” He approved, the smirk deforming his tattoo, the sight of which sent tingles to your fingertips. 

You remembered all too well the day Hunter fulfilled the one condition you asked for. 

“That’s what I said!” Wrecker said, passing you to enter the ship. 

“Welcome aboard the _Havoc Marauder_.” Hunter became more serious, his hand presenting you the interior of the vessel. 

You followed his lead, taking in all the information he gave you about the ship while creating a mental map of the structure and rooms. 

You weren’t surprised when he showed you your cot, a small bed pushed against the far wall of a room where two sets of bunks were occupying the side walls. You quickly figured that a ship had very limited spacing and that you would sleep near them all. You weren’t a fan of sleeping in your underwear anyway, the lack of clothing making you feel vulnerable. 

“Here.” Hunter caught back your attention, a well-known knife and tap in his open hands. 

You took them back, eager to be your whole self again. Pocketing the tap, you traced the old tree carved in the wood of the knife handle, finding a deep comfort in the movement. 

“What does it represent?” He asked, genuinely curious. “The tree." 

"It’s my family’s crest. We’ve always been close to the jungle.” You smiled, remembering the day your dad offered you the knife. “This knife has been passed down for many generations now-" 

You frowned at the light bleating sound echoing through the ship. This was unusual. 

"What was that?” You asked and when you turned around, Tech and Crosshair were in the doorway. You slipped the knife onto the nearby bed. 

“That? Nothing.” Tech replied too nonchalantly. 

“You took him too?” Your eyes widen as a small green horned Shinehorn poked its head between Crosshair’s legs. 

Your face broke into a smile as you fell to your knees to receive the excited animal into your arms. You patted his head and scratched its sides, stopping when Tech closed Shiny’s mouth when he started to make happy noises. 

“He slipped in when we weren’t looking. And he’s not supposed to be here.” He informed you, releasing Shiny slowly to make sure be wouldn’t start babbling again. 

“Oh. Okay.” You stood up. “Are you guys keeping him?" 

"Unfortunately, if the GAR finds him he’ll be thrown away. So we have to take him back.” Tech explained to your disappointment. 

“It’ll be your first flight. Without pressure, perfect to practice. Tech will be there to help you.” Hunter told you, watching closely for your reaction. 

“Cool! I feel ready for this.” You affirmed, confident. Every day for two months you prepared yourself. You were ready for a first practical test. Your hands shot to your pockets by habit, reminding you of something. 

“Crosshair!” You exclaimed to everyone’s surprise. You almost laughed at their slightly wide eyes. “Thanks for the clothes! I love them!” You flashed him a toothy grin, bouncing from your toes to your heels. 

“You’re welcome.” He grumbled, moving his signature toothpick in his mouth, snapping his fingers and leaving the room. To your surprise, Shiny followed Crosshair diligently, his tail straight up in the air, alert to Crosshair’s commands. 

You watched him go and disappear around the corner, eyes wide, mouth slightly open in shock. 

“He tamed him!” You yelped, pointing to the empty spot that Shiny occupied only moments ago. 

“Yeah. He knows many commands now.” Tech took a seat on a bunk, holding your gaze. “Stay, come here, lay down, light up and turn off. " 

"Aw it’s so sad that we have to take him back there.” You pouted, but you knew why it was necessary. Didn’t mean you had to like it though. 

“It’s for his best interest.” Tech chipped, standing up to leave the room. “Oh and I brought you some food from the mess. Figured you’d get out of the medbay before they could give you your lunch.” He told you in the doorway before going elsewhere when you thanked him for the kind gesture. 

“Think you’re ready?” Hunter asked from his spot leaning on the opposed bunk. 

You smirked. “Doubting me Sergeant?” You asked, mischief sparkling in your eyes. 

“No. Simply confirming with you.” He cleared, raising an eyebrow at your expression. 

“Then I confirm. I’m ready for a test run. I know all those manuals by heart and it’s as boring as it sounds.” You chuckled. 

He pushed himself up before taking a few steps in your direction, only stopping when a single inch separated your chests. 

“I bet that those manuals would be much more interesting if you’d read them out loud.” He said lowly, eyes darting down to your lips before returning to your eyes, calculating. 

“Now, I really doubt that.” You rolled your eyes at his silliness. “I’m sure you’d fall asleep without a problem though." 

"I’d have nice dreams then.” He smirked and you couldn’t stop yourself. 

Your hand rose to the ink at the corner of his mouth, tracing its length carefully like you did that day he completed his part of the deal. Rising up to his cheekbone and temple, his head moved to the side to feel more of your fingers ghosting his skin before they finally entangled themselves in his locks. 

He groaned, eyes closing in contempt like every time, his touch deprivation made him like putty in your hand. After that first day, he soon became your most frequent visitor and the Batcher who knew you the most. In turn, you became the first person outside of his brothers to know him well. 

“I sure hope so.” You whispered, closing the distance between your lips to take his breath away in a passionate kiss, your lips moving with his in perfect tandem. He followed your rhythm, too entranced by _all of you_ overtaking his senses to be able to take the lead. 

His fingertips barely touched your waist that you pulled away, the mischievous glint he distinguished before sparkling stronger. 

“I have duty in the cockpit." 

You tried to pass by him but he quickly blocked your way with his body. 

"My hell of a catch-” He growled, his lips crashing back on yours, this time initiating the dance that you eagerly repeated. “-is a tease.” He finished, eyes half close but loaded with desire. 

“Only for you, sir.” You purred, pecking his lips one last time when he straightened at the title, his breath catching in his throat. 

You noted the reaction for later and ducked to the side to grab your knife from the bed and took off to the cockpit where you’d execute your very first attempt at flying a metal can. 

On your way you took hold of the food Tech gathered for you and you sat in the pilot seat, checking the board before you with all its buttons, switches and levers while eating. You were happy to find out that you knew the vast majority of their functions. 

“These are your credentials.” Tech showed you his datapad, where your name appeared on top of the page with numbers and letters just beneath it, forming your personal code. 

“How did you get that? I didn’t do any studies here and even less enrolled in the army." 

"Simple.” He started, scrolling down to a particular section of the page. “I hacked the system through an encrypted connexion, created you a new identity within the GAR and gave you all the background needed to be a real pilot.” He showed you your supposed diplomas and certifications of countless hours of flying practice that you really didn’t have.

“Wow. I’m a genius.” You noticed the grades attached to some of your supposed diplomas. 

_With high distinction_ , some of them read. 

“Well, to be assigned to a team of elite commandos, you kinda need to be.” He shrugged like it was pure logic. 

“You say that but you got me. The freak who never flew before and lived on a planet where we still used bows to hunt.” You stated flatly, pointing to yourself. 

He met your eyes, blinking a few times behind his glasses to process what has been said and maybe find how to answer _correctly_. 

“Can I take back what I said?” He asked, starting to feel the hot water he just put himself in. 

“So you think I’m stupid?" 

"What?!" 

"If you take back the fact that I’m supposed to be a genius to be able to work with you, then you think that I’m stupid.” You pointed out for him, enjoying how a rosy tint invaded his cheeks. 

“N-no! Not at all!” He stammered, clearly panicking over his own words. 

“Relax Tech, I’m kiddin’.” You laughed, almost dropping your food. 

“What’s going on here?” Hunter asked, suddenly entering with his arms crossed over his chest. 

“Tech called me stupid.” You pushed him under the bus before taking a bite of your lunch. 

“No I didn’t!” He defended himself, the high octave of his voice almost made you choke on the food. 

“Tech, don’t insult our pilot.” He reprimanded jokingly before leaving. 

He slowly turned to you, the residual pink on his skin vanishing by the seconds, his half-closed eyes burned holes through your skull. 

“I’m not helping you fly this ship.” He grumbled, insulted. 

“I’ll do my best!” You affirmed before lifting a hand to your chin in thought and pointing to a random button. “That’s the hyperdrive, right?” You faked innocence. 

Tech blanched a bit, eyes widening all the while shaking his head in mild crisis. “You’re not flying this ship!" 

You shot your hands in the air in defense, chuckling at his expression. "Okay I’m done shitting you! Promise!" 

Then you proceeded to name and explain the function of each button, each switch and each lever. He approved, sometimes adding stuff you couldn’t learn in books and soon you were ready to depart. 

"No more jokes.” He glared before patting your shoulder and left the room to tell the others that you would soon initiate the take-off sequence. 

You contemplated the hangar from your venture point, munching on some dry bread when you realized that you’ve felt more alive when you were stuck in a medbay bed for two months than you’ve ever felt in your life in the village. 

The reckless gesture of leaving your house on Murphy day was stupid but it bring you so much more than you first anticipated. Instead of having a single day where you weren’t stared at with distrust or even disgust, you found companionship, kindness, people who’d gladly _talk_ to you instead of whispering among themselves behind your back. 

Relief tears welled up in your eyes when you became aware that the heaviness weighing you down daily was gone. You were happy. 

You found your home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyy Murphy Day is over and everyone is alive! Thank you all for bearing with this madness ~


End file.
